Blair haunted by spectre of Iraq

Tony Blair: claimed 'smoking gun' was really a 'damp squib'

By George Jones

12:01AM BST 29 Apr 2005

Tony Blair was fighting last night to prevent Iraq from derailing his election campaign amid signs that renewed controversy over the legality of the war could turn disillusioned Labour voters to the Liberal Democrats.

A YouGov poll for The Telegraph today suggests that the Tories are not benefiting from their attempt to portray Mr Blair as a liar but the Liberal Democrats are attracting potential vote-switchers.

It shows that 58 per cent agreed with the Tory charge that Mr Blair was "telling lies" to win the election. But 51 per cent thought that Michael Howard, the Tory leader, would also lie to gain power.

Charles Kennedy, who has said that the Liberal Democrats are the only party being honest about the need for higher taxes, is seen as much more trustworthy. Only 22 per cent said he was lying; 46 per cent said he was not.

With less than a week to go to the election next Thursday, the poll showed Labour maintaining a four-point lead over the Conservatives.

While the Tories are still unable to achieve the momentum needed to challenge Labour's grip on power, the Liberal Democrats are holding firm at 24 per cent, the highest level they have achieved since 1987 when the Liberal-SDP Alliance was at the height of its influence.

The survey suggests that if there is a last-minute swing it would almost certainly favour the Liberal Democrats.

The findings will add to the alarm in Labour's ranks after 24 hours which has caused near panic over the partial leaking of the legal advice on invading Iraq.

In a dramatic about-turn yesterday, Mr Blair sanctioned the publication of the full legal assessment he received from Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, on March 7, 2003, which was not shown to the Cabinet before it decided to back the invasion.

For two years Mr Blair has argued that publishing the 13-page document, marked "secret" would breach conventions protecting the confidentiality of legal advice to governments.

He surprised reporters by saying: "You have probably got it all anyway; I see no reason not to publish it."

His aim was to prevent further disclosures in the closing stages of the campaign.

He claimed that the "smoking gun" of the leak had turned out to be a "damp squib" because it showed that the Attorney General had advised that it was lawful to proceed.

The document confirmed that the Attorney General had outlined a number of caveats about the war. But it disproved one of the central conspiracy theories: that he had believed the war would be illegal and had changed his mind.

It showed he had argued that a legal case could be made, although he believed that a second United Nations resolution explicitly authorising military action would be "the safest legal course".

Mr Blair again refused to apologise for the war, insisting that he had shown leadership at a critical time. But he appeared to accept that the election would be an opportunity for the voters to decide whether he had told the truth.

Sitting alongside Mr Blair, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, confirmed they had not been shown the Attorney General's full advice, including the caveats, before the Cabinet voted to go to war. Mr Brown, whose backing for the war has been seen as lukewarm, defended Mr Blair's actions in the approach to the conflict.

In his strongest public display of loyalty, he said the decision to go to war had been taken in a "honest and principled way". Asked if he would have done the same, he said "Yes".

Mr Howard described leaks of the document as "devastating". He said they showed that Mr Blair was not telling the truth when he said on Wednesday that he had "never lied".

Mr Kennedy stopped short of calling Mr Blair a liar. But he said the document did not square with the claims of the Prime Minister that there was no material shift between the initial advice tendered by the Attorney General and the advice presented to Parliament 10 days later.